Sumukhi Suresh has turned the end of a long relationship into a Netflix special about a conservatively raised woman who is, by her own description, failing at casual dating while managing her hormones. The hour-plus show is called “Hoemonal”, and Suresh frames it as a comfort chick-flick and rom-com that viewers will want to return to.
That framing matters. Where a traditional stand-up set might chase punchlines, “Hoemonal” builds its comedy around a story: a woman raised conservatively enough to be a “sindoor chaser” suddenly has to navigate breakups, dating apps and female friendship all at once.
A breakup became the premise
The idea landed when Suresh was coming out of a long-term relationship. She had never really dated, and the sudden need to start felt like a crash course in modern romance. Instead of hiding the mess, she put it on stage.
Her target audience, she has said, is 25 and above, though viewers in their 20s are welcome. The comedian’s honest summary is that her own 20s were avoidable, and that she only began enjoying life at 30. It is a sentiment she believes many women share: living the 20s they were supposed to have earlier, on their own terms.
“I think my 20s were very avoidable. I actually started enjoying life at 30.”
Why this is more than another special
Suresh says she does not really write a special the conventional way. She performs material again and again until it becomes the piece it needs to be. That performance-first process is how “Hoemonal” found its shape, and it also made the show easier to scale.
When producer Kim Sharma came on board in 2023-2024, the show became a business IP. What started in a 1,000-seater venue grew to selling 5,000 tickets for a single Bengaluru performance. For Suresh, that scale is not vanity: it creates responsibility to deliver every time she steps on stage.
- The special mixes laughter, romance, happiness, sadness and tears, so jokes land inside a story rather than as isolated punchlines.
- The live show jumped from 1,000 seats to 5,000 tickets for one Bengaluru date.
- Suresh is already shooting Ekta Kapoor’s “Ragini MMS 3” with Tamannaah Bhatia and Nargis Fakhri.
From Pushpavalli to the next set
Long-time fans know Suresh from “Pushpavalli”, the 2017 two-season series about a woman who mistakes a stranger’s kindness for love and starts stalking him. That show began when she was told no one writes lead roles for someone with her body frame, so she wrote one herself. The success opened doors to Vikramaditya Motwane’s “CTRL”, “The Royals”, Vir Das’ “Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos”, and upcoming collaborations with Tushar Hiranandani and Rhea Kapoor.
For now, “Hoemonal” is the main event. It is a reminder that a personal, confessional comedy hour can grow into a 5,000-ticket live property without losing the energy of a best friend having a meltdown in front of you.
Source: Hindustan Times
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